


Don't leave me alone

by Anything00but



Series: Oneshots [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Bad Alpha Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Bad Friend Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Caring Peter Hale, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hopeful Ending, M/M, No Smut, Nogitsune Stiles Stilinski, Possession, Protectiveness, Sad Stiles Stilinski, Scent Marking, Scenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:35:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26256496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anything00but/pseuds/Anything00but
Summary: Five times Stiles begs someone to love him and he gets turned down. And one time he doesn't have to beg. It's given to him freely.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Oneshots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1905679
Comments: 9
Kudos: 798





	Don't leave me alone

1.

The very first time Stiles has to beg to be loved by someone is his own mother. At the very young age of six when his mother gets sick at that. No one bothers to tell Stiles about it for a long time. He has to start noticing it by himself. 

As a smart boy it’s no big deal but not pleasant. He knows something is going on quite early.

One day his mother forgets to wake him up to school. It is no big deal, really, because Stiles is a big boy and can get ready by himself. However it strikes as strange because his mother never forgets to wake him up. Never. 

The small clock on his nightstand tells that it is half past seven. So he is not late for school but he needs to hurry if he wants to make it in time. The little six years old Stiles jumps up from his bed, waving to his Batman bed sheets promising to come back again in the evening.

He pulls out from the drawers his black shirt, red hoodie and jeans. He sits on the floor to pull his socks on. Looking at his reflection in the mirror and deeming himself good enough to leave the room Stiles grabs his Batman backpack from the floor.

Walking down the stairs Stiles can hear his mother humming in the kitchen.

“Mommy?” Stiles calls out to his mother, once he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

The singing stops and his mother peeks from the kitchen. She is wearing her yellow sun dress that Stiles loves. It brings out her eyes, Stiles has told many times.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Stiles asks as he drops his backpack and starts heading towards the kitchen to get something to eat.

“I’m so sorry my dear”, His mother apologizes by kissing his head as he walks past her, “It just slipped my mind I guess. I will wake you up tomorrow? How does that sound?”

“That sounds nice. Can I have breakfast mommy?” Stiles asks, taking a seat at the table.

“Of course”, Claudia answers with a bright smile, “Is cereal fine?”

Stiles nods as Claudia pours the cereal in the bow and then milk. She ruffles Stiles hair with affection before saying she is going to pack his lunch. Stiles is happy as he munches down his cereal and watches his mother work as she makes him a sandwich. A little brown bag is pulled on the table and there goes the sandwich and after that Stiles’ favorite juice box. With a little wink Claudia slips in a chocolate bar, making Stiles giggle.

“Ready?” She asks as Stiles places the bowl in the sink.

“Yep”, Stiles yells as he runs to put his shoes on.

They leave the house hand in hand like every day.

Life goes on after that. Everything seems normal for a while after that. Stiles asks that night if mommy is alright since she never forgets to wake him up in the mornings. John tells him to just forget it and go to sleep. Mommy has much on his mind apparently. And Stiles gets it. He really does. His mommy is a grown up. She has her own things she needs to worry about and he is a big boy. He can wake himself up in the mornings if mommy is busy.

As it happens it starts to happen more often. First it is just the one time when she forgets to wake him. Then it starts to happen once or twice in a week. Stiles accepts this. He is a big boy now and can get ready by himself. His mommy has other things to do in the mornings.

It’s that one afternoon when school ends. Stiles rushes out of the school building with other children like every day ever since he started school. Stiles scans the area around the gate to find his mother but he does not find her. He stops and waits at the school gate with other students whose parents have not yet gotten there. 

It is weird since his mother is usually there little early to wait for him. The teacher assigned that day to hand them to their parents and wait there with the other children. Stiles watches as one by one the other children are picked up by their moms and dads. It has only been a few minutes when school ended, no big deal. He can wait.

But then it is ten minutes and only five kids remain waiting with him. Still, no reason to worry. Mommy is just stuck in traffic. Nothing to worry about.

Then it’s twenty minutes and he is standing there alone with the teacher. Stiles watches with keen eyes as the teacher tries to spot his mother as she is the parent who is supposed to pick him up.

Half an hour has gone since the school ended and no has come to pick him up. Tears start to gather in his big amber eyes as he looks for his mommy. The teacher has been checking her clock for the past fifteen minutes. She has started to look worried too. This is not like his mother to leave him there.

“Can we call her?” Stiles asks voice shaky as he turns to look at his teacher, holding back tears.

“Of course we can. Come on Stiles”, Kelly, his teacher says kindly, placing her hand on his back to lead him gently, “Lets go and call your mommy. Maybe she is delayed.”

Stiles nods his head as he lets Kelly lead him back inside and to the teachers office. He is told to sit and wait by the door. Stiles takes a seat and plays with the backpack’s strap as he waits.

It is five minute later when Kelly comes back and kneels before Stiles. She is wearing that same, kind smile she always has.

“Your daddy will come and pick you up today”, Kelly says cheerfully, “Lets go and wait for him at the gate. He will come in a minute.”

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience”, John apologizes as he steps out of his cruiser as he stops the car next to the gate where Kelly and Stiles are waiting

“No worries Mr. Stilinski. It’s no problem at all. Stiles was just getting worried, being the only kid still here”, Kelly laughs as John ruffles Stiles' hair and leads him into the car.

“Go in son. I need to talk with your teacher for a minute”, John says as he opens the door for Stiles and helps him in and tosses the backpack on the back seat, “I will put the seat belt on you in a minute.”

Stiles sits there, watching as his father speaks something to his teacher. He seems embarrassed as he explains something and Kelly nods understandingly. Stiles is curious and would like to hear what they are talking about but before he can open the door his daddy turns to walk back to the car.

“Let’s go. Mommy is waiting for us home”, John says as he straps Stiles in his belt.

“Why didn’t mommy come and pick me up?” 

John starts the car ignoring Stiles’ question as he starts to drive them home. His father looks worried, however he tries to cover it. It’s weird, Stiles thinks. His father is the sheriff, there nothing he should be worried about.

“Daddy. Why didn’t mommy come?” Stiles asks again, sounding worried himself.

“Stop repeating. I heard you the first time”, John states irritated as he turns the turn signal on and turns right to their home street, “Mom isn’t feeling well.”

As the car stops Stiles jumps out and rushes in, leaving John grab his backpack from the back seat. He can hear his father yelling after him something.

“Mommy!” Stiles yells as he throws the door open, kicking his shoes off by the front door.

“Yes?” Comes from the kitchen and Stiles runs there.

Claudia is making dinner, her white apron on. She pulls meatloaf out of the oven and places it on the stove. 

“Why didn’t you pick me up from school?” Stiles asks as he hugs her tightly.

Claudia looks baffled as she looks at her son. She looks like she doesn’t know who he is. Right then John walks in the kitchen and a bright smile makes its home on her face. 

“John. How was work?” She asks, watching her husband as he gives the backpack to Stiles with a huff.

“Stiles go to your room. We will call when the dinner is ready”, Is all John says.

“But-”, Stiles starts to say but the hard look his father gives him makes him run into his room.

Closing his bedroom door Stiles throws the backpack in the corner. He can hear his parents arguing about something. They are not yelling, not quite. They are talking just louder than normally. Stiles can’t make out the words but he guesses it has to do something with him and mommy since she didn’t pick him up.

The very next day he goes to Scott’s house. Daddy and mommy drive him there, telling him they will pick him up in the evening. Scott is over the world happy to have Stiles over and play with. Of course Stiles likes it too but he is worried about his mommy. It’s hard to concentrate on anything and Melissa notices this. She assures him that everything is alright and there is nothing to worry about. 

Oh how he wishes it is true.

It happens gradually but Stiles notices it. The change in his mommy. First it is that she forgot to wake him up, then she forgets to pick him up from school. It takes a few months when in the morning she does not recognize him, asking him how he got in her house. Luckily that is during a weekend and John is home, calming his wife and telling her Stiles is their son.

From that point forward Stiles knows there is something wrong with his mommy. Claudia starts having more and more these confusions about who he is. Once during a play time in their backyard Stiles came up to Claudia asking for a juice box. She asked him if he is lost and if she needs help finding his mommy. John guides her to rest inside.

It is after Christmas when Stiles is still on a holiday but John has gone back to work when Claudia’s condition took a turn for the worse.

“Demon! Get away from me!” Claudia screams when Stiles walks out of his room, wearing his pajamas still.

“Mommy?” Stiles asks confused as his mother covers back, trying to shut the door in his face.

She keeps screaming at Stiles to get away, throwing anything she can reach. Stiles crying his eyes out runs for the house phone calling his daddy. It takes a minute for Linda, the receptionist at the police station, to make out any words of his speech. But when he finally manages to tell her he needs daddy to come home it only took fifteen minutes for John to come home.

John tells Stiles to wait in the kitchen as he marches up the stairs to get to his still screaming wife.

Stiles cries during night. His mommy is forgetting him. She has her good moments but they are getting fewer and would last shorter than the bad times. Stiles is starting to get scared of his mommy. Never he would know how she would react to seeing him. He has no way of knowing if mommy will remember him in the morning.

Stiles spends his seventh birthday at the McCall’s house.

John has taken more shifts at the police station to cover the hospital bills. Stiles knows about them even if his father tries to hide them. He went through his daddy’s desk. Stiles knows he isn’t supposed to but he wants to know what is wrong with his mommy. And he finds it. Fronto-temporal dementia. He searches every book in the library about it during the reading hour at school.

“Mieczysław”, Stiles’ mother calls him one evening.

John has a night shift so it’s just the two of them. Stiles has learned to stay in his room most of the time when his daddy isn’t home. It’s just safer that way. Mommy won’t be mad if he stays silent in his room.

But it’s been a long time since his mother has called him by his name. So it must mean she remembers, right?

Carefully he opens the door and looks for his mommy. Stiles finds him in the bathroom. Claudia has drawn a bath. Or at least filled the bathtub. Stiles watches warily from the doorway at her.

“Come here Mieczysław”, She calls him, voice sweet, smile not quite reaching her eyes.

Stiles stays where he is. 

“Come here right now”, Claudia says angrily, losing her temper in a second.

She grabs him by his arm before Stiles can turn around and run. Her eyes are cold, no recognition there and Stiles starts to feel truly scared. Claudia is grabbing his arm so tightly it hurts and Stiles cries out as he tries to yank his arm back.

“Mommy you are hurting me”, Stiles cries trying to pry his mommy’s hand.

“Quiet you demon! I won’t let you kill me!” Claudia screams at him, furious.

She starts pulling him closer to the bathtub and right then Stiles starts fighting back. He struggles, screams mommy let go, tries to hit her so she would let go. She pulls harder and Stiles’s arm hurts really badly. Claudia lifts him up by his arms and throws him in the bath. 

Water splashes everywhere as Stiles struggles to the surface of the water level. Water goes in his mouth as he didn’t know to wait for this. The water is freezing cold and the soaked pajamas cling to his shivering body.

He is just catching his breath when Claudia pushes his head back under the water. Thrashing around Stiles tries to get her hand off of his head so he could surface to breath. She holds him tightly under the freezing water. Everything starts going black and he is too tired to fight against his mother when he is yanked out of the water.

“Stiles!”

“Stiles!”

Someone is calling his name but he is so tired and can’t keep his eyes open. His lungs are burning and his head is heavy. He hears screaming around him, more calling his name and then he is throwing up the water he has swallowed.

“Stiles thank god!” John breathes out as Stiles keeps coughing up the water and crying.

“Daddy”, Stiles cries as John pulls him in his arms, hugging him tightly.

“You are safe now. Daddy is so sorry”, John keeps crying as he rubs Stiles’s back, “Daddy is sorry he let it get this bad. Mommy will go to the hospital.”

And after that day Claudia stays in the hospital. She had tried killing her son and even though she cries and swears to never do anything like that again John puts her in the hospital. He has a son to think about after all.

\---------------

2.

Second time Stiles begs to be loved is by his father.

Stiles' father has no time for his son after Claudia goes to the hospital. He is busy with double or even tribble shifts to cover the hospital bills that keep on coming. And when he isn’t working he is at the hospital at Claudia’s side.

Stiles spends his days at school and after that he heads straight to the hospital to be with his mother. Scott tries to cheer him up everyday and Melissa makes him food, knowing the situation. Scott being his cheerful self only makes Stiles feel worse. Scott doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation telling Stiles his mother will be okey and out of the hospital in no time. The stupid little puppy who has no idea what in his own house is going on, that Raphael McCall will move out in a few weeks, only to leave Melissa and Scott.

Stiles knows how his mother’s disease will end. He has read the books about it and done his research. It helps him to a certain degree to focus to know what is going on. But now he does not know if it is a gift or a curse.

Stiles turns eight, and he spends it with Melissa and Scott. He does not mind it, really he does not. Melissa bakes a cake and lets him play video games the whole day. She even bought him the new Star Wars movie. His father is too busy to stop by and check on him. 

Stiles is pretty sure his father does not even remember his birthday.

He calls his father that morning, telling his father that Melissa has baked a cake and they will have a party. Stiles invites his father to come. John promises to come after his shift and Stiles waits. He sits on the front porch and waits. The sun goes down and darkness falls.

John never comes.

He spends the night there as well as John calls and he will stay and do a night shift. It’s getting more and more common for Stiles to spend a night at the McCall’s. He loves Scott and he loves Melissa but he doesn’t want to bother them.

Melissa has told him that he is no bother. She enjoys having him around. His hyper activeness and all, she assures him at night when he cries his eyes out and tells her he wants to go home. John takes two days off to stay home with Stiles after that night.

John does his best to keep food on the table and look after his son but most of his time goes to his wife. Of course Stiles is also there with Claudia but it’s not the same. John’s attention is on his wife and the second place takes Stiles.

Stiles understands this. Mommy is sick. She needs someone to take care of her. Just like when Stiles has been sick. Mommy has taken care of him, giving all her attention to him. Stiles tells himself to be a big boy. Everything would be better if mommy got better. But she does not get better.

Stiles loves his mother but she doesn’t love him back. Not anymore she does. She doesn’t remember ever having a son so how could she love someone she does not remember.

Stiles also loves his father. And his father loves him back but he is too busy to show it to Stiles anymore. Stiles feels terrible for wishing that his mother would die. But her condition has dropped rapidly since she was admitted in the hospital. She has lost weight as the medication she is on makes her even more sick. She still has her good moments where she tells him she loves Stiles. And then there are those times she screams at him to go away.

His father told him to be patient but even he is losing his calm facade when Claudia starts wandering around the hospital. One time John finds her on the roof, screaming at Stiles to stay away, to not to kill her. She calls him a demon, an evil carnation sent after her. Claudia is strapped on the bed after that night so she wouldn’t harm herself. Stiles is relieved to know his mother would be safe and not wander off.

Two weeks later Claudia sleeps away.

Stiles sits in the hospital room with her as the machine he is told to not touch starts beeping. The monitor makes weird sounds and weird symbols flashes before his eyes. Doctors and nurses rush in and one leads him out of the room. Stiles doesn’t know how long it takes for the beeping to stop but it seems to go on forever. He cries. He cries and screams for his mother. The nurse who took him out of the room holds him as he cries. Stiles collapses on the corridor, head buried in his hands as he weeps.

John is at work.

The funeral was held just a week after Claudia’s death. 

John stays by Stiles' side as the coffin is lowered in the ground. Stiles throws his mother’s favourite flower, a red rose, in before they start filling the grave. The service is hold and Stiles stays by his mother’s grave as John talks to the guests and relatives giving them their condolences. 

“Come Stiles. It’s time to go home son”, John whispers as he kneels next to Stiles who is sitting cross legged by his mother’s grave.

Without a word Stiles follows his father.

Afterwards when Stiles tries to remember the funeral he notices he doesn’t remember much. Or rather he doesn’t remember who was there, who he spoke to. He is not even sure if he talked to anyone. He remembers the rose. The blood red rose that was his mother’s favourite flower. He remembers the grave and the feeling of endless sorrow.

The painful empty hole left by his mother.

Stiles thought that after his mother has died his father would have time for him. He was wrong. Or maybe he is being selfish for thinking like that. He has been told a few times that he is a bad boy. But he can’t help his ADD. He has also heard that many times.

His father still works double shifts to cover the hospital bills left and the funeral costs. And when he is home John turns to the bottle to bury his sorrow. 

First it was just a sip after a long day at work.

Gradually the sip turns into two fingers, then three and then four. Then a whole glass. And finally the whole bottle. John isn’t in any condition to take care of his son. Too lost in his own grief of losing his wife to take notice of Stiles.

Stiles, who sits at the stairs and watches as his father drinks at the kitchen table. Stiles who cries when his father is throwing up and almost chokes in his vomit in the bathroom. The very same bathroom where Stiles almost drowned. John got rid of the bathtub almost immediately after the accident, and Stiles hasn’t missed it. 

Water still makes him jittery. Showers are fine after some time, but he won’t be going in a pool for a long while. He just can’t. He can feel the cold water surround him and the helplessness of not being powerful enough to fight against it.

After the night his father almost chokes in his vomit Stiles heads back to the library to do research. He finds out what he needs and learns it. So the next time it happens he knows what to do and doesn't panic. 

It does not make the next time any easier.

But at least now he knows what to do and how to do it. He is determined to not let his only living parent die. As much as he loves the McCalls he doesn’t want to move in with them. He wants to stay with his father. Thank you very much.

John can’t stand the sight of Stiles when he is intoxicated. Saying Stiles has his mother’s eyes. Even when he is sober Stiles can see it in his father’s eyes. Stiles looks too much like Claudia for John to move on from his deceased wife.

Stiles hates his eyes from that point on and the fact that they are like his mother’s. He wants his father to be able to look at him. To love him like he used to. He used to love his eyes because they are like his mother’s. But now he could not wish for anything more than to change them.

One night he wakes up after something crashes inside the house. He jumps up from his bed and listens. There are sounds coming from downstairs. Slowly he walks to his door and pulls it open.

“Dad?” Stiles calls out.

His tiny voice echoing in the dark house.

He gets no response.

Something crashes again downstairs. Stiles creeps carefully closer. At the bottom of the stairs he sees his father holding the bottle in one hand and a picture of Claudia in another. The is brown liquid dripping down the wall on the floor. Glass shards everywhere. Stiles stares at the mess eyes wide.

“Dad?” Stiles asks quietly as he stands there, at the bottom of the stairs holding on the railing.

“You know you have her eyes”, John rasps out without turning to look at his son as he keeps staring at the picture of Claudia, “You have her god damn eyes.”

“Daddy.”

“I love her so much. I wonder-”, John stops, takes a sip from his bottle, “If she truly was right.”

“Daddy.”

“If you truly killed her. You were there when she died. You were sitting right there”, John continues mumbling his mind, “If she really could tell it. You killed your mother.”

Stiles stands there silently watching his father talk his mind. Tears falling silently on his chubby cheeks. Few hit his bare feet making him jump from the sudden feeling of water.

“You have her eyes!” John suddenly yells angrily, turning around and throwing the bottle.

The bottle crashes and breaks right next to Stiles’ head on the wall. Stiles shrieks as he crouches down covering his head. He is shaking in fear. Hands over his head as he can feel the glass shattering around him. The liquid dripping on his pajamas, ruining them. His blue pajamas now covered in brown beads of whiskey.

“It’s you. It’s all you”, John hisses pointing a finger at Stiles, “You know, everyday I saw her lying in that hospital, slowly dying. I thought “How the hell am I supposed to raise this stupid kid on my own? This hyperactive little bastard who keeps ruining my life.” It’s all you. It’s you Stiles. You killed your mother. You hear me? You killed her. And now you are killing me.”

“Daddy”, He sobs scared as his father sways there, drunk out of his mind.

John stares at him for a minute before wandering into the kitchen. Stiles runs in his room and buries himself under his covers. Harsh words to hear from his own father. Considering Stiles hasn’t had the chance to grieve his mother as he has been brave for his father. He listens as John destroys pictures of Claudia by smashing them in the wall, the glass on the frames breaking. 

In the early hours of the morning when John finally goes to his room Stiles sneaks out of his room. The destruction downstairs is terrible. Everywhere is glass shards, broken picture frames and bottles.

Carefully picking up the biggest shards Stiles starts cleaning. He wears his sneakers to make sure he doesn’t get any shards in his soles. He picks up the pictures that are not shredded in tiny pieces by his father and pockets them to put them safely in his room. He has a box in his closet for his mother’s stuff. Pictures of her, her jewelry, her perfume. Anything he manages to save before his father starts destroying everything she owned. 

He swipes the tiny shards and carries them in the garbage bin. He takes a wet cloth and washes the dried alcohol off from the wall and floor. It takes all morning to clean up. When he is finally finished it is already past nine and he is hungry.

The food all the neighbours made them when Claudia died can only carry as far. They run out of food two weeks after the funeral. Stiles doesn’t know what to do. His father is passed out in his bedroom and there is nothing to eat in the house.

Stiles has checked.

Twice.

Thinking about it for ten minutes he gathers his courage and tiptoes upstairs. He slowly opens his father’s bedroom door seeing him sleeping soundly on the bed. Still in his day clothes over the covers. 

His wallet on the nightstand.

Stiles sneaks to it and pulls out two twenty dollar bills. It will have to do. He glances at his father as he puts the wallet back, seeing him still sleeping.

The journey to the store is the easy part. Gathering the food is the second easiest part. Paying the stuff is easy, although the cashier gives him a weird look as an eight year old buys food. With a bright smile, that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, Stiles pays and packs the stuff away.

Getting the groceries from the store to home is the hardest part. The bags are heavy and Stiles is only an eight year old. He isn’t a big boy, he is just a little kid put in a difficult situation. The four blocks from the store to home takes almost an hour with three heavy bags full of groceries.

Next time Stiles takes with him his red toy wagon.

The visits to the library become more frequent. Stiles borrows books about cooking and how to do household chores. He also gets a few books about gardening. 

It takes many trial and errors before he can make spaghetti and bolognese. The first time the sauce burns so he eats slightly raw spaghetti. The second time when Stiles tries it he accidentally pours the boiling hot water over his hand. He calls Melissa.

It takes far too long for John to pull himself out of his head to be there for his son and by the time he does it is already too late. Stiles is independent and managing on his own. He knows how to cook and how to clean. He can iron his own clothes and manage his own doctor’s appointments. Stiles doesn’t need his father for anything, he knows how to survive on his own.

Stiles and his father’s relationship is awkward for a long time after Claudia’s death. Stiles remembers his father’s harsh words and can’t forget them. On the other hand he doesn’t think John even remembers saying those words. How can he expect an apology if his father does not remember saying those hurtful things?

\------------------

3.

Stiles thought he would always have Scott in his life. Through everything that has gone down in his shitty life Scott has always been there. His best friend since kindergarten. His brother from another mother. His bro who would always have his back.

Defending each other since the day in kindergarten when Scott had his asthma attack and Jackson tried to pick on the new kid. Stiles saved Scott and that is how their story began.

Now years later they are still inseparable. Or so Stiles thought.

It is their sophomore year in high school when Stiles drags Scott out in the preserve to look for the dead body of the girl. It is a night and the Sheriff catches Stiles, forcing him to leave Scott. Scott gets bitten by… something. Stiles is a little skeptical when Scott tells him about it the next day at school when there is no bite mark on his side. 

It is also the time Allison appears in their life. Scott is immediately smitten by her. She is all Scott talks about. Allison this and Allison that. Stiles is happy for his brother for having a crush and a little bit more chance with it than he has with Lydia. 

It’s all fun and games until Scott starts showing symptoms of something. During lacrosse practice Stiles has to start believing Scott's tale of being bitten by something in the preserve. A kid with asthma as bad as Scott has would be in no condition to move like that. The moves Scott is pulling out like nothing rings Stiles’ every warning bell he has in his head.

Scott of course is over the moon after he hears he made it into the team and in the first line. And cherry on top is a date with Allison. Just great, it is what Stiles needed right now.

They make a trip back to the woods to find Scott’s inhaler. They find it. And they also find Derek Hale. Or Derek Hale finds them to be exact. The man in his all glory wearing a leather jacket, all mysterious. The man is like a Creek god, Stiles thinks as he stares at the man and his ridiculous eyebrows. 

Derek hardly spares him a glance staring at Scott intensively.

Weird, but Stiles is used to being ignored.

A few awkward sentences from their side the man is walking away from them and Scott has his inhaler back. Then follows a brief discussion about who the hell Derek Hale is. Like seriously Scott? One must remember the most gruesome fire that has ever happened in Beacon Hills. It’s like a legend that everybody knows. 

Stiles heads home to do research. It is what he does best after all.

After having pulled an all nighter Stiles thinks he knows what Scott is and how to explain his new superpowers. Luckily it’s Saturday and Scott is coming over. Stiles is only worried about how Scott, his brother, will take the news.

Stiles has prints, papers full of texts he has gathered while researching about werewolves. He knows basically everything that there is to find on the internet about the subject. And as it happens to be he is so focused in his papers he jumps when there is a knock on his door.

Little jittery Stiles opens his door finding brightly smiling Scott standing there.

“Get in. You gotta see this dude”, With a relieved sigh Stiles pulls Scott in, “I have been up all night. Reading websites, books. All this information.”

“How much adderall have you had today?” Scott asks humorously as he watches his best friend pace before him.

“A lot. Doesn’t matter”, Stiles breathes out in a rush, “Okey, just listen.”

“Is this about the body? Did they find out who did it?” Scott asks, throwing his backpack on Stiles’ bed, sitting on the edge of it.

“No, they are still questioning people. Even Derek Hale”, Stiles explains waving around his papers.

“Ah, the dude we saw in the woods the other day.”

“Yeah! Yes! But that’s not it, okey?” Stiles exclaims frustrated trying to get Scott to focus on the point.

“What then?”

“Remember the joke from the other day? Not a joke anymore”, Stiles huffs staring at Scott, “The wolf. The bite in the woods. I started doing all this reading. Do you even know why a wolf howls?”

“Should I?” Scott asks, baffled.

Stiles wants to repeatedly hit his head on the wall. All these years of school and Scott is still the same clueless little kid he was when they first met.

“It’s a signal. When a wolf is alone it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So, if you heard a wolf howling that means others could have been nearby. Maybe even a whole pack of them.”

“A whole pack of wolves?” Scott asks scooting a little closer to the bed’s edge as he asks eyes wide.

“No. Werewolves.”

Stiles thinks he got through Scott’s thick skull as they stare at each other in silence for a few seconds. Then the look Scott gives him is an answer enough to tell him that Scott doesn’t understand. Or doesn’t want to understand.

“Are you seriously wasting my time with this?” Scott asks outraged as he jumps up from the bed, “You know I’m picking up Allison in an hour.”

“I saw you on the field Scott”, Stiles rushes to stop his friend from leaving by standing between Scott and the door, “Okey. What you did wasn’t just amazing, all right? It was impossible.”

“Yeah, so I made a good shot”, Scott says avoiding the subject, not wanting to face the obvious.

“No, you made an incredible shot. I mean, the way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. People can't just suddenly do that overnight. And then there’s the vision, and the senses, and don’t even think I don’t notice that you don’t need your inhaler anymore”, Stiles lists every single thing he has noticed.

“I can’t think about this right now. We will talk tomorrow”, Scott decides as he looks at the clock.

“Tomorrow?” Stiles shouts, “What? No! The full moon is tonight. Don’t you get it?”   


“What are you trying to do? I just made the first line. I got a date with a girl who I can’t believe wants to go out with me. Everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?” Scott asks a little out of breath, getting angry.

Angry at Stiles. First of all, how dare he. Stiles is only trying to help him. And Allison. And maybe the whole town by not wanting a newly turned werewolf running around the town like a headless chicken. A headless, murderous chicken.

“I’m trying to help”, Stiles cries out, “You are cursed, Scott. You know, it’s not just the moon that will cause you to physically change. It also just so happens to be when your bloodlust will be at its peak.”

“Bloodlust?” Scott asks, clearly unbelieving a word he is hearing.

“Yeah, your urge to kill”, Stiles tries desperately to explain.

“I’m already starting to feel an urge to kill, Stiles”, Scott says staring down at his friend.

“You gotta hear this”, Stiles says turning on his chair to grab a book and reading from it, “The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse.”

Stiles turns quickly around and slams the book shut: “All right? I haven’t seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You gotta cancel this date. I’m gonna call her right now.”   


Stiles moves around Scott going for his backpack. He grabs it from where Scott left it and starts rummaging through it looking for the phone. He finds it and starts tapping on it.

“What are you doing?” Scott asks from behind him.

“I’m cancelling your date”, Stiles answers immediately, starting to move around Scott once more.

“No, give it back!” Scott yells angrily, pushing Stiles harshly on the wall taking his phone back.

Scott raises his fist and Stiles closes his eyes preparing for the hit. Something stops Scott from hitting him as he lands the strike on Stiles’ chair. Panting heavily Scott lets go of Stiles, calming himself down. 

Stiles stays against the wall, being afraid to move.

“I’m sorry”, Scott breathes out as he steps back, looks down and then back again at Stiles.

Scott gathers his backpack in a hurry and rushes to the door.

With one last look he turns to Stiles: “I’m sorry.”

Stiles knows Scott won’t listen to him and cancel the date. The idiot.

As expected everything that can go wrong literally goes wrong. Scott loses his control in the party, having to flee, leaving Allison behind. Derek drives her home causing Scott to worry. Derek and Scott counter hunters in the preserver. And of course the head of the hunter group is Allison’s father, Chris Argent. He and Scott pull up the body of Laura Hale and get Derek arrested. And it starts its own mess with Kate Argent coming to town and hunting down Derek.

Not the first thing that comes to anyone's mind when they see Kate Argent is that she is a pedophile.

Well, Stiles had his own guess but it’s not important. What is important is that Derek is alive after he got the bullet and the wolfsbane mix in it to heal his bullet wound. Stiles will have nightmares about it for weeks. Freaking werewolves.

Who would have thought there are hunters who hunt supernatural creatures? The whole situation is like out of the show called Supernatural. Stiles waits the whole week for the black impala to pull up to their school.

Just when Stiles thinks nothing can go any more wrong bodies start dropping. First the school bus driver, then the video store owner and after that their chemistry teacher. Stiles’ father is busy with the murders to be much home and Stiles takes full advantage of the situation. And Derek could not have chosen a better time mess with Jackson giving him some sort of powers.

Like seriously? Is Stiles the only one with brains around here?

Most of the time it feels like it.

With that Stiles has to worry about his school since the parent teacher conference didn’t go well for him. Neither did for Scott. It went catastrophically bad for Scott who is now under home arrest by his mother until his grades rise. That means study groups.

“I’m sorry Stiles. I just understand better when I study with Allison. She knows how to explain the material the way I understand”, Scott makes puppy eyes at Stiles.

Stiles asked if Scott needed his help studying. He guesses it is logical but it still hurts to be replaced by Allison.

He starts his own investigation about the murders. They are so random that they have to have something in common. And after two sleepless nights and borrowing his father’s laptop Stiles finds the connection between the three. 

They all are somehow connected to the Hale house burning down. And it doesn’t make them any better when Stiles pulls out their bank details and all three have received a huge sum of money just two months after the fire. So now he has the connection and the motive. All he is missing is the murderer.

After debating with Derek about the murders he finds out they are after an alpha. And they have no idea who it is. Just their luck. 

Scott is too busy with running after Allison leaving Stiles with Derek to look for the alpha. They do find him. Since the alpha is Derek’s uncle Peter Hale. The coma patient who has the perfect alibi for the murders and the right motive.

“It’s him! He’s the alpha! Get out of there Stiles!” Derek screams in the phone as Stiles tells him he can’t find Peter’s nurse and even the man himself is missing.

Pulling the phone slowly from his ear Stiles backs away from the doorway of Peter’s room. In the corner of his eye he can see someone standing right there on his right. A quick turn towards the figure proves him to be right. Oh god what he would give to wrong sometimes.

Peter Hale stands there. Half of his face is covered in third degree burns. Seriously, Stiles thinks as he stares at the man in fear, how come the Hales have this creek god vibe going on. Even Peter is like a freaking marble statue with his burn scars.

“You must be Stiles.”

Turning away from the man Stiles takes a step back now facing Peter’s nurse. He keeps turning his head to look at the two while pointing at them and rambling out words in his mild panic.

“Oh god I’m going to die”, Stiles cries out just before Derek knocks out Peter’s nurse.

Stiles sees better to step back from the fight that follows between Derek and his uncle. All while trying to call Scott. The voice in his ear saying the number cannot be reached and to leave a voicemail. With a frustrated cry Stiles rushes out of the hospital. There is nothing he can do for Derek if he is killed by the alpha.

The dance takes Scott’s full focus and not the fact that no one can get hold of Derek after the hospital fiasco. Stiles begs Scott to forget about Allison for just one night so they can possibly save Derek’s life. He begs to be Scott’s number one priority just that one time so they can save Derek who has in some strange way become his friend. Stiles feels like he is talking to a wall.

Scott doesn’t even bat an eye when Stiles begs. He only talks about Allison and how she will be disappointed if he doesn’t take her to the dance. Stiles starts to see how little he means for Scott.

To sum up the dance it’s a disaster for Stiles and a dream come true for Scott. Scott gets to spend the night with Allison while Stiles runs left and right to save lives.

Running out to the lacrosse field Stiles sees Lydia’s unconscious body laying on the cold ground. Peter crouching on top of her.

A low and threatening growl fills the silent field as Stiles rushes closer and kneels before the duo.

“Don’t kill her, please”, Stiles begs, tears threatening to fall as he sees Peter’s blood covered chin and Lydia’s dress in blood.

“Hm”, Peter makes a show to think about it before answering and if Stiles wasn’t so scared he would have appreciated the theatricality, “Of course not. Just tell me how to find Derek.”   


“W-what?” Stiles stammers out, voice shaking in fear as he stares at Peter.

“Tell me how to find Derek Hale”, Peter draws out, running his sharp claw over Lydia’s face.

“I don’t know that. How would I know that?” Stiles almost cries out as he watches helplessly.

“Because you are the clever one, aren’t you”, Peter says sharply turning his full attention to Stiles, “And because deception has a particularly acrid scent, Stiles. Tell me the truth or I will rip her apart.”   


Stiles doesn’t doubt that for a second.

“I swear to god I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“Tell me!” Peter growls angrily, the field echoing.

“Okey, okey look. I-”, Stiles stammers out trying not to pass out in fear, “I think he knew-”

“Knew what?” Peter questions immediately as Stiles takes a little too long to continue.

“Derek. I think he… I think he knew he was gonna be caught.”   


“By the Argents?”

“Yeah”, Stiles nods.

“And?”

“I think he took Scott’s phone.”

“Why?” Peter questions, tilting his head, losing his patience little by little and Stiles could tell this. 

“They all have GPS now. So if he still has it and if it’s still on you can find him.”

Stiles has no idea at first why he has to drive them to an underground parking lot. He lets Peter drag him along. Seriously, what other option does he have? None. He has none.

“Whose car is that?” Stiles asks as they stop walking behind a car.

“It belonged to my nurse”, Peter answers, taking out the car’s keys from his pocket.

“And what happened to your nurse?” Stiles asks before his brain can even think about it, “Oh my god.”   


Peter’s nurse is stuffed in her own car’s trunk. Very much dead. Stiles clutches to the laptop Peter takes out of the trunk, from right next to the dead nurses body. Stiles stares at the body in shock as Peter turns to look at him and then back at his nurse.

“I got better”, Peter states drily as he closes the trunk like it is the obvious.

And in some way it is.

“Good luck with getting a signal down here”, Stiles says before his brain to mouth filter can work as he watches Peter unpack the laptop bag.

Peter gives him a wifi router without even sparing a glance at him.

“And you are a Mac guy”, Stiles huffs as Peter pulls out the laptop, “Does that go for all werewolves or just a personal preference?”

Peter gives a death glare at Stiles as he moves away from the laptop: “Turn it on and get connected.”

“You know, you are really killing the werewolf mystique thing here”, Stiles complains as he sets up to work by connecting the laptop, “Look, you still need Scott’s username and password and I’m sorry but I don’t know them.”   


“You know both of them”, Peter says bored as he looks around the parking lot.

“No I don’t”, Stiles tries to argue, knowing he will not have much luck.

“Even if I couldn’t hear your heartbeat, I would still be able to tell that you are lying”, Peter says staring at Stiles, making himself threatening.

“Dude, I swear to god-” Stiles starts before Peter slams his head to the car.

The sound of his head hitting the car echoes in the garage with Stiles’ grunts of pain.

“I can be very persuasive Stiles”, Peter says coldly holding Stiles bend against the car as he breathes in the boy’s ear, “Don’t make me persuade you.”

After a very informative chat with Peter, Stiles types Scott’s username and password. Peter watches him work with hawkeyes right next to him.

“His username is Allison?” Peter asks, sounding unbelieving and Stiles can understand the reaction, he facepalmed so hard when he found out, “His password is also Allison?”

“Still want him in your pack?” Stiles asks, glancing at Peter to see his reaction just for the shits and giggles.

That receives what seems to be hereditary eye roll of the Hales. Stiles swears only Derek and Peter can make an eye roll seem so effective. Not even Lydia manages it so well as these two. 

“Wait, that’s where they are keeping him?” Stiles asks confused as the laptop locates Scott’s phone, “At his own house?”

Peter seems to share his confusion, but only for a second. His eyes sharpen as he looks at the laptop’s screen: “Not at it. Under it. I know exactly where that is.”   


There is a howl from a distance and Peter seems to recognize it. With a newfound rush Peter packs the laptop with him and marches to his nurse’s car. Stiles trails after him helplessly even though the man doesn’t pay any mind to him.

Another howl echoes in the night.

“Give me your keys”, Peter orders slamming the car door shut.

“Careful, she grinds in second”, Stiles sighs, taking out his keys and giving them to Peter.

Peter takes them and bends them so Stiles won’t be able to use them. Stiles takes his keys back with his mouth hanging open. Firstly, rude. Secondly, how dare he. And lastly, pretty smart sine Stiles would have driven right after Peter if he still had his keys.

“So you’re not gonna kill me?” Stiles asks as Peter is about to sit in the car.

“Don’t you understand yet?” Peter asks, sounding insulted, as he takes a step forward only to result for Stiles to step back the same amount, “I’m not the bad guy here.”

“You turn into a giant monster with red eyes and fangs and you are not the bad guy here”, And Stiles should shut up right about now if he wants to keep his life.

But instead of killing him, Peter sighs: “I like you Stiles. Since you helped me I’m going to give you something in return. Do you want the bite?”   


“What?” Stiles’ brain stops working.

“Do you want the bite?” Peter articulates slowly, “If it doesn’t kill you, and it could, you will become like us.”   


“Like you?”

“Yes, a werewolf”, Peter remarks, “Would you like me to draw you a picture?”

Wow, rude, Stiles thinks before he can stop it.

“That first night in the woods I took Scott because I needed a new pack”, Peter explains staring at Stiles with those blue eyes that seem to pull Stiles in the more he fights it, “It could have easily been you. You would be every bit as powerful as him. No more standing by his side, watching him become stronger and quicker, more popular, watching him get the girl. You would be equals. Or maybe more.”

Peter takes Stiles’ arm and pulls it closer to his face. They share a look before Peter eyes his wrist in wonder. Stiles has no idea what he sees but the gentle contact is enough to make Stiles shiver.

“Yes or no?” Peter whispers nosing along Stiles’ wrist.

Stiles doesn’t know how to answer. He doesn’t want the power. He wants the connection to someone. Would the bite connect him to Scott and they would be like before? Would it bind him to Peter, the man being his alpha?

There is a smirk ghosting on Peter’s face as he turns Stiles wrist to give himself a better angle to bite. Stiles watches this all unfold eyes wide, having no idea of what he wants. Only when Peter’s fangs trace along his sensitive skin Stiles pulls his hand back.

The look that Peter gives him makes Stiles’ blood freeze. 

“I don’t want to be like you”, Stiles breathes out, keeping eye contact with Peter.

“Do you know what I heard just then?” Peter asks, sneering, “Your heart beating slightly faster over the words “I don’t want”. You may believe that you are telling me the truth, but you are lying to yourself.”

Stiles doesn’t know how to answer. He doesn’t know if he is lying or not. He knows he doesn’t want to be like Peter. All crazy and running around after a revenge. But he wants someone to make him feel wanted.

“Goodbye Stiles”, Peter turns around stepping into the car and leaving shocked Stiles to stand there.

\-----------------------------------

4.

Stiles likes to think that he and Derek are friends. With all the help he has given to the older man and all the research he has shared. Stiles has saved Derek’s life and vice versa. There is love between them. Not romantic. But platonic. A friendship.

Something to hold on to.

He helps Derek to kill his uncle. By throwing the Molotov cocktail at Peter who is in his alpha form. Stiles doesn’t know what to wait for since it’s something he put up together in five minutes. The brown liquid in the glass bottle stolen from the hospital flies in the air only for Peter to catch it.

“Oh no”, Stiles breathes out, starting to feel fear creep up his mind when Peter’s horrific wolf form stares at him.

The alpha seems to recognize him if the glint in its eyes is anything to go by. Stiles is not sure he would like to know what Peter is thinking right now.

“Allison!” Scott yells, throwing her the bow she lost just minutes before.

One accurate shot later Peter’s arm is on fire. Stiles stares at it horrified. This is not what he wanted. Not at all. And before he can stop it Jackson throws his Molotov.

Peter howls in pain as he burns for the second time in his life. The ear splitting howl echoing in the woods as Peter trashes around trying to extinguish the fire eating him. The air smells of burned flesh and smoke. It makes Stiles want to throw up.

He can’t do anything as Derek rips his uncle’s throat open and takes his alpha power. It’s a terrible night.

Scott is giving Allison his full attention to notice Stiles. No surprise there. Derek doesn’t seem too stable to be left alone but Stiles doesn’t know if the man wants company. After all he just killed his only living relative.

Stiles doesn’t claim to be an expert in werewolf lore but it can’t foreshadow any good that not even a week later Derek is building his own pack. And Stiles tells the man as much. Derek tells him he understands his worry but there is not anything to worry about. There is a war coming, tells Derek. The Argents patriarch has declared it between the two after Kate’s death. 

The fact that annoys Stiles the most is that even though he warned Derek about turning new betas for his pack he still does it. First it’s Isaac. Fine, he can understand the point. Abusive father and all but is becoming a werewolf really the way to go with it. Stiles does not think so.

Then it’s Erica. Stiles remembers her, of course he remembers her. The quiet girl with epilepsy. And after her Boyd, the lonely kid.

Derek has something to offer for all of them. And they take the opportunity for a better life. Life without fear of getting abused by a parent that is supposed to keep you safe. No more seizures to worry about and people laughing at you for them. No more sitting by yourself day after day when you can have a pack that is there for you no matter what.

Stiles gets it. He wants something like that too. He just isn’t so sure if Derek is the right person to offer those things for these kids.

It goes to hell as it always does. Derek doesn’t know how to act like an alpha. He says he is training his betas to survive. Stiles isn’t so sure as he sees the practice. Derek breaks Isaac’s arm as the boy voices he wants to take a break to heal.

Stiles rushes next to Isaac seeing his injury. Nothing that won’t heal but painful no matter what.

“You can’t just go breaking their bones, Derek”, Stiles argues as he jumps up from the ground standing between the betas on the ground and their alpha.

“They need to be ready for whatever is coming for us”, Derek counters annoyed.

“And this is not the way to go about it”, Stiles says with a sigh, “And you know it.”

“Whatever that thing is that killed Isaac’s father, I think it killed someone last night”, Derek says, taking a step closer to Stiles and the betas, “And until I find out what it is you need to learn everything that I know. As fast as I can teach you.”

With that Derek walks away.

“Oh my god”, Stiles breathes out as he turns to the betas.

All three stare at him, eyes wide, covering on the ground. Stiles helps Isaac up by his good arm. With a small smile Stiles tests the bone on his broken arm feeling it out of its place. Isaac gives him a nod and Stiles pulls it in place.

What comes to the creature Stiles is lucky enough to meet it in person. He is waiting for his Jeep to be ready from the mechanic’s garage. It’s not on his to do list of fun things to be paralyzed and watch as the mechanic gets squished under his Jeep.

Not fun at all.

Or the interrogation by Derek. Erica, sweetheart, picks Stiles from the Principal's office. A little side mission Stiles is running as everyone is too busy to notice he is gone as they watch the lacrosse game. Including Gerard as Allison keeps an eye on him.

“Stiles”, Erica greets him from the doorway.

“Oh god”, Stiles jumps around seeing Erica smiling at him.

She grabs his arm and drags him along to meet Derek. Stiles wonders if the theatricals runs in the family or is it just something the Hales enjoy as he sees Derek walking towards him like a villain from a really crappy movie.

“Stiles”, Derek greets him.

“Derek”, Stiles nods.

“What did you see at the mechanic’s garage?” 

“Uh.. several alarming EPA violations that I’m seriously considering reporting”, Stiles answers after thinking about it for a second.

Erica laughs next to Derek while the man looks amused.

“I’m willing to do this nicely Stiles. Just tell me and you are free to go”, Derek says.

Stiles sighs looking around before answering: “All right. The thing was pretty slick-looking. Skin was dark, kind of patterned. And I think I actually saw scales. Is that enough? Because I have somewhere to be.”

Derek stares down at him.

“Um all right. Fine. Eyes”, Stiles grunts, “Eyes are. Um. yellowish and slitted. It has a lot of teeth. Oh! And it’s got a tail too.”

All while Stiles is describing the creature he saw Derek and Erica spare glances upwards. Erica starts to look scared by the second and Derek takes a stance, ready to attack. Stiles dreads to turn around and see what they are looking at.

Only after he hears a hiss over his head he turns around.

The creature swipes Erica to the wall where she falls unconscious. Derek pushes at Stiles telling him to run as he tries to take on the monster. 

“Derek, your neck”, Stiles points as he stumbles backwards a step.

Derek’s hand shoots to his neck over a little cut. Almost immediately he stumbles and is having a hard time to stay standing. Stiles rushes to help him by throwing Derek’s arm over his shoulder to keep him standing. 

Stiles doesn’t see where the creature went as he tries to get them away from it. He needs to call Scott. And Scott needs to answer.

He does not answer the phone.

Derek falls into the pool as Stiles overbalances and drops his phone on the tile floor. 

“Stiles, you son of a-” Derek yells before he submerges into the water.

Without even thinking about it Stiles leaves his phone and jumps after Derek. He dives coming to the surface with Derek who couches up water.

“Where did it go?” Stiles asks as he holds them afloat, “Where is it? Do you see it?”

“No.”   


“Maybe it took off”, Stiles voices hopefully.

A loud hiss echoes in the pool area.

“Maybe not”, Derek answers, glancing at Stiles.

Two hours later they are still in the pool. Two goddamn hours. Stiles knows this because there is this huge clock on the wall right before them. Two hours and his phone hasn’t rang once. Stiles is so going to kill Scott if he lives through this.

“Will you get me out of here before I drown?” Derek asks annoyed.

“Are you worried about drowning?” Stiles asks unbelieving, “Did you notice the thing out there with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth?”

“Did you notice I’m paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?” Derek asks like Stiles hasn’t kept him afloat for the past two hours. 

“Okey I have to do something here”, Stiles huffs, blowing water out of his mouth, “Do you see it?”

Without waiting for an answer Stiles starts swimming closer to the edge where his phone is located.

“No no no, wait”, Derek hisses as the creature comes out of nowhere and starts moving closer to them.

It stops at the poolside, eyeing the water suspiciously. It tries it carefully with its clawed hand before jumping backwards and hissing in anger.

“I don’t think it can swim”, Stiles says as he watches the creature disappear again somewhere.

“Okey, I don’t think I can do this for much longer”, Stiles breathes out while eyeing his phone.

“No no no! Don’t even think about it!” Derek yells getting what Stiles is planning on doing.

“Could you just trust me this once?”

“No!”

“I’m the one keeping you alive”, Stiles argues, “Have you noticed that?”   


“Yeah”, Derek answers, “And when the paralysis wears off who’s gonna be able to fight that thing, you or me?”

“That’s why I have been holding you up for two hours?”   


“Yup. You don’t trust me, I don’t trust you”, Derek argues, “You need me to survive, which is why you are not letting me go.”   


A few intense seconds of staring and glaring later Stiles throws Derek off of him: “Take a deep breath.”

“Stiles!”

Derek sinks to the bottom as Stiles swims as fast as he can to grab his phone. The creature hisses alerting Stiles of its presence. Its close to the edge of the pool. All Stiles has to do is swim to the edge and quickly grab his phone. 

As he swims closer the creature comes also closer. It’s only a matter of a second as it tries to claw at Stiles as he takes his phone and kicks speed from the edge of the pool’s wall to get away from it.

Stiles hurries as he taps on his phone trying to call Scott. He knows he does not have a lot of time as Derek waits for him in the bottom of the pool. 

The call rings and connects.

“Scott!” Stiles yells.

“I can’t talk right now”, Is the only thing he hears before the call ends.

Staring at his phone disbelieving for a second he throws it away. He dives to help Derek back to the surface. It takes fifteen more minutes before Scott comes to save them. And he didn't even come for them. Just a happy little accident he happened to hear the creature scream.

As it happens Derek knows what they are up against.

A kanima.

And he didn’t say a word about it until now. The prick.

The kanima keeps killing people as the two packs in Beacon Hills fight against each other, the kanima and Gerard. Stiles bangs his head against the wall every night as new bodies turn up, Gerard threatens to kill Scott’s mom. Derek starts playing the lonely hero that saves everyone and owns a drastic backstory. 

He is so busy trying to keep everyone alive to notice Lydia acting weird. More likely he has noticed that something is going on with her but has not found time to ask her. Then she has a mental breakdown during econ class. 

“Derek, are you sure she comes here?” Stiles asks as he trails after the older man in the woods.

“Yes, Stiles”, Derek answers without turning to look at Stiles as he continues forward, “I don’t know what business she has at the old Hale house but it’s weird.”   


“Weird how?” Stiles asks, almost dripping on a root in the darkness.

“She is sleepwalking the whole time.”   


Stiles stops dead in his tracks. Sleepwalking? Lydia is sleepwalking. To the Hale house of all the places she could wander to.

“How does she even know who to get here?” Stiles asks as he stares at Derek.

“Maybe one of you guys showed her?”

“We haven’t. We haven’t told her anything about the supernatural”, Stiles argues starting to walk again.

The moon is shining high in the night sky and Stiles, not for the first time wonders why any of this couldn’t be done during the day. But he keeps his mouth shut, not wanting to annoy Derek anymore as the man seems pretty worked up.

The ashen ruin of the house stands looming on its ground. The dark shadows seem even more ominous than before. Stiles doesn’t like this. Not one bit and he voices it.

“Shh”, Derek hisses him as they near the house, “Someone is here.”   


“Lydia?” Stiles asks, taking a step towards the stairs.

Blue mist falls from the ceiling. It does nothing for Stiles but it does knock Derek out immediately. Before Stiles can help Derek someone knocks him on the head and he loses consciousness.

He comes to a loud rumbling. The whole house feels like it’s falling apart. Focusing his eyes and ignoring his throbbing head Stiles sees Lydia sit on the dirty ground next to an unconscious Derek. 

There is a hole in the floor.

Stiles swears it wasn’t there before. And into the hole are going vines with blue flowers. 

“What have you done?” Stiles asks as he tries to get up from where he is.

He gets his answer as the floorboards creak and break, flying in different directions. Lydia who is kneeling next to the hole starts sobbing terrified, eyes wide as she stares at the figure raising from the hole. Derek, still on the ground, tries to move away with terror in his character. 

The figure, covered in dirt and soil raises from the hole pulling himself out of it. Yes. Himself. Stiles can see that its definitely a man. A very gorgeous man at that if the dirt covered body is any to go by. 

“I heard there was a party?” A familiar voice breaks the tense silence.

“Goddammit!” Stiles yells jumping up, “How are you alive?”

“Don’t sound so disappointed, I might think you don’t like me, darling”, Peter speaks softly, turning around to face Stiles.

Both ignore the terrified duo on the floor. There is something in Peter’s eyes that seems different this time around. The haze of craziness seems to be gone from his eyes.

“I saw you die”, Stiles breathes out pointing a finger towards the naked man before him, “Are you there? Are you alright?”

“Physically, yes”, Peter answers, “Mentally is debatable.”

“Oh god”, Stiles turns around shaking his head.

Derek starts to isolate him from everyone. It first starts by not letting him know about new kanima sightings, not letting him know if someone from the pack gets hurt. The counter argument to Stiles question of why is that the pack will heal, they are all werewolves, they will heal. 

Then it starts getting more problematic as he isn’t given the information about Gerard’s and Allison’s alliance after Allison’s mother’s death. 

Stiles had promised to help Erica and Boyd out of Beacon Hills. It went to hell. They are being chased down by ATVs. They run through the forest trying to lose the hunters after them. 

“Come!” Erica yells, as she is running at the front followed by Stiles and Boyd.

Stiles looks behind him seeing three ATVs right there. 

“Run!” Boyd yells, tugging at him, pushing him to run faster.

The forest becomes thinner around them, the threes growing further apart from each other. There is no cover from their chasers, Stiles realizes with a panicked cry as he stumbles on a root in the darkness. 

“Come on!” Erica yells, helping him to stay up dragging him after her as they attempt to run.

Stiles hears a swoosh next to his ear and Erica goes down on his right. She screams in pain as she hits the cold ground, an arrow in her leg. Stiles and Boyd turns around to try to help Erica.

“No! No, run”, She begs them, “Go!”   


Boyd looks torn but starts running. Stiles moves between the hunter and Erica, shielding her with his body. From the mist slowly surrounding them Allison walks out, her bow held high. Stiles hears a whimper behind him and turns to see what is going on to see Erica breaking the arrow to get it out of her leg.

“Allison don’t do this”, Stiles begs staying between the two girls.

Allison doesn’t even blink when she lets go of the arrow and it flies towards Stiles. Stiles closes his eyes, bracing for the pain but it never comes. Opening his eyes he notices Boyd holding the arrow and glaring at Allison, eyes glowing yellow.

Another swoosh can be heard and an arrow is poking out of Boyd's stomach. Stiles heaves, feeling the pile rise up his throat. Boyd growls and another arrow is in his leg. Then another in his shoulder. One in his chest.

“Please Allison stop!” Erica screams tears streaming down her face, not being able to watch anymore.

Just as Allison is about to shoot one more arrow a gunshot rings in the clearing. Allison’s bow breaks in half and falls broken on the ground. She whips her head around glaring at his father who is holding the gun.

Chris looks at Allison in sorrow, not liking what his daughter is doing and it gives hope to Stiles. This isn’t something that Chris wants. This isn’t his decision. He doesn’t want his only child to become a cold blooded murderer.

Boyd growls, weak in his state but trying, taking a step closer to Allison. Still standing between the hunters and Stiles and Erica. Chris points his gun at Boyd who collapses on the ground, not being able to hold himself anymore.

“Let us go”, Stiles pleads, standing there alone, his friends on the ground.

“Step away from them”, Allison orders eyes cold.

“They had nothing to do with your mother’s death”, Stiles says, “Let us go.”   


“They are werewolves and therefore need to be captured and put down so they can’t hurt anyone”, Allison says like a mantra she has repeated to herself thousands of times.

“They haven’t hurt anyone!” Stiles yells turning to Chris, “You know this that they had nothing to do with your wife’s death. So let them go.”   


Chris looks thoughtful but doesn’t say anything.

“They haven’t hurt anyone. They are just teenagers like us”, Stiles argues.

“They are monsters. They chose to become like that and now I’m going to put them down”, Allison says and sounds so much like Gerard.

Before Stiles can argue more everything goes dark.

He wakes up in a basement. It’s dark and all he can hear is electricity cracking somewhere. And whimpers.

Stiles shots up, his head punishing him from the sudden movement. He can see the yellow light flickering as the electricity passes the cables. There is a wall behind him and he uses it to navigate around until he finds a light switch.

Erica and Boyd are tied to the ceiling by their hands, just left hanging there duct tape over their mouths. There are cables around their wrists cracking with electricity. Erica is crying and shaking his head at Stiles.

“I wouldn’t try it”, Gerard says from behind him making Stiles jump.

“Let us go. We have not broken your stupid code!” Stiles growls taking a step back from the old man.

“Oh I don’t think so. You have made very clear on what side you stand”, Gerard smirks and it looks terrifying on his face, “You have chosen those monsters over your own race.”   


“What are you talking about?” Stiles asks, waving his hands towards Erica and Boyd, “They are my friends.”   


“Allison”, Gerard says and in a blink of an eye Allison stands next to him, “Would you be a dear and help grandpa out?”

“Of course”, Allison nods, marching over Stiles and backhanding him.

Stiles can hear Erica and Boyd struggling against their binds as he lays on the cold cement floor. His head hurts from the hit to the ground and his cheek is throbbing.

“What the fuck?” Stiles asks, holding his cheek.

“I will take it from here, sweetheart. You take care of those mutts”, Gerard says placing his hand on Allison’s shoulder.

The next hour is constant pain all over his body. Who knew that a dude that old could hit that hard? Well not Stiles. His face is bruised, lip broken, and his thinks his brow is also bleeding as blood keeps dripping down his face. His sides hurt and it’s pure agony to breath. Stiles worries about broken rib bones and possibility of a collapsing lung. 

Erica and Boyd are not doing much better. Allison used the panel to control the electricity going through the cables and she wasn’t gentle with it. Stiles has no idea from where she pulled out a knife but it does a great deal of damage when coated in wolfsbane.

Even he got to experience it. The cut on his collarbone pulls painfully every time he tries to move or breath.

Gerard seems satisfied with his work as he summons Allison to follow him and they disappear upstairs. They cries from Erica and Boyd force Stiles to move as Allison didn’t shut the electricity.

Lucky for Stiles he is seen as this weak, skinny human and just left on the ground laying, untied. Their first mistake was to think like that. The trio is left behind to suffer in their injuries and electrocution in Erica’s and Boyd’s case. Slowly Stiles pulls himself up and drags his legs to the werewolves.

“Shh”, Stiles whispers as Erica whimpers in pain when Stiles comes closer, begging him to let them go.

Stiles shuts the electricity from the control panel and pulls the cables out of his friends. The wounds won’t heal and Stiles worries about the amount of wolfsbane Gerard has used to get two perfectly healthy werewolves this weak that they can barely walk. It doesn’t matter at the moment, he needs to get them out of there. Somewhere safe.

The basement door isn’t even locked. The hunters believed that they wouldn’t be able to get that far with their injuries. There are car keys on the table by the door and Stiles has to wonder how stupid these people really are to leave them when they have a basement full of werewolves and the sheriff’s kid.

Not even five minutes later Stiles has helped Erica and Boyd in the back seat and is driving away from the house.

It’s already dawn. They have been missing for hours and no one has come looking for them. Hell, Stiles is sure that Derek could have tracked them down if he wanted to do so. So why the hell he left his betas alone?

His phone rings. He totally forgot about that and still has it.

“Stiles! Where the hell are you? You can’t just disappear like that”, Scott yells from the other end.

“Oh wow dude I hadn’t thought that”, Stiles answers looking at the two on the backseat.

“I need you to come to this location”, Scott says and the call ends.

He gets the location and with a low grunt he turns the car around.

Stiles hits Jackson with the car. The fight goes down, Scott forces Derek to bite Gerard. Everything goes to hell after that in Stiles' opinion. Gerard starts to bleed black goo and soon he is coughing it up. Jackson dies by Derek’s and Peter’s hands. He wakes up as a werewolf and Gerard is gone.

“Scott you can’t believe her!” Stiles yells frustrated as Scott holds Allison’s hand and is about to leave with her, “She tortured me and Erica and Boyd with her crazy grandfather!”   


“I’m sure it’s a mistake”, Scott says, making heart eyes at Allison who smiles carefully, “She wouldn’t do that.”

“Dude! You must be able to smell her all over me”, Stiles tries seeing he has already lost the fight.

“She says that Gerard made her do it. And I believe her”, With that he leaves with her.

Mouth hanging open Stiles watches them go. He hears movement behind him.

“Derek”, Stiles cries out, “I have your betas at the back of the car.”

“They need to leave”, Derek grunts out.

“I literally took a beating to help your pack and now you don’t suddenly want them”, Stiles sounds baffled.

“No one told you to get involved in this. You are just a weak human who shouldn’t be part of this”, With that Derek walks out of the warehouse.

He is alone. With two beaten and unconscious werewolves on the back seat of his stolen car. And his body is ready to fall over.

“How much does it hurt?” A whisper comes from behind him and Stiles is too tired to get scared when a hand comes in contact with his bare neck.

“A lot”, He answers Peter with a whisper.

The pain is suddenly drained from him and he falls against the warm hand on his neck. Peter takes hold of him and warmth surrounds Stiles as the older man’s arm goes around his waist to hold him up.

“That’s good”, Stiles whispers as he takes a deep breath of air now that it doesn’t hurt to breathe.

“You reek of Gerard”, A hot breath whispers against his ear making Stiles shiver.

“Yeah well that tends to happen when he beats me”, Stiles laughs weakly, trying to keep his eyes open now that he isn’t running purely on adrenaline.

Stiles knows enough about werewolves to know what scenting is and he knows Peter is doing that to him right then. The older man rubs his cheek against Stiles’s cheek and neck. Peter’s hand on his neck slowly rubs circles on his tender skin. Marking Stiles as his. Covering the scent left behind by Gerard. Who knows anymore at this point? Stiles is too damn tired to think what it could mean.

“Why?” Is all Stiles asks as he tilts his head a little to the side letting it fall on Peter’s shoulder, giving Peter more access.

“I told you I like you”, He gets his answer in a low purr.

Stiles nods, like it’s all he needs to know.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed”, Peter murmurs in Stiles' ear as he helps him to the passenger's seat in the car.

“I can take care of myself”, Stiles mumbles as his eyes fall shut.

“I know darling. I know.”

  
  


\----------------------

5.

“I know where they are!” Stiles yells as he jumps out of the bathtub, “We passed it. There was this stump. This huge tree. Well it’s not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it’s still big. Very big.”

“It was out there the night we were looking for the body”, Scott says.

“Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter”, Stiles says glancing at the said man.

Peter stands there, worry showing clearly on his features. It’s weird. Peter doesn’t usually seem worried, so this is kind of a new thing. And it seems directed at Stiles. Like there is not a whole lot of noise and movement around them.

“What’s wrong?” Stiles asks, water dripping his clothes and body.

“You guys were out a long time”, Isaac says and Stiles turns his gaze from Peter to him.

“How long is a long time?” Stiles asks, becoming worried.

“Sixteen hours”, Deaton informs them, arms crossed.

“We were in the water for sixteen hours?” Scott asks, baffled.

“And the full moon raises in less than four”, Deaton confirms, looking grim.

Lydia shares towels for them and Stiles gradually gravitates closer to Peter, the towel still in his hands. All the while Allison and Scott are already drying themselves, talking about what to do next.

“Are you alright?” Peter asks quietly from Stiles as the boy is close enough to feel the older man’s warmth.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, Stiles answers as he presses his wet forehead against Peter’s warm shoulder.

Peter takes the towel from the boy wrapping it around his shoulders.

“Let’s get you warmed up”, Peter murmurs, rubbing Stiles’ back gently.

“No time. Need to find dad”, Stiles answers pushing away from the man.

“You are no help to anyone if you die from hypothermia”, Peter sighs, drying Stiles’ hair for him.

The next half an hour goes by by planning what to do. The teens go to find their parents and the more considered adults will go to meet the alpha pack and darach.

Isaac and Allison go together before to scout the area and Stiles is behind them with his jeep. The storm that is rolling over Beacon Hills makes it difficult to see forward. As Stiles dodges a falling branch he hits a tree.

It takes him until the last minute to get to the Nemeton and save everyone from the collapsing root cellar. His dad is fine. Everyone is alright. 

Stiles starts having nightmares after he comes back from the dead. He has this constant fear of… something coming in. He dreams of the stump of Nemeton, of open doors. He has a dream in a dream. He doesn’t know how to explain it. It is just weird.

On the next day at school he tries to explain it to Scott.

“And you couldn’t wake up?” Scott asks as they walk towards the school.

“Nope, it was beyond terrifying. Have you ever heard of sleep paralysis?” Stiles asks.

“No, um. Do I want to?” Scott asks back.

“Have you ever had a dream where you feel like you are about to wake up, but you can’t move or talk?” 

“Yeah, yeah. I have had that”, Scott says.

“It happens because during REM sleep your body is basically paralyzed. It’s called muscle atonia. That way if you start dreaming about running you don’t actually start running in your bed”, Stiles tells, “Sometimes your mind can wake up before your body does. So for this split second you are actually aware that your body is paralyzed. And that’s the terrifying part. It turns your dream into a nightmare.”   


“You think it means something? You dream?” Scott asks as he pushes the door open and they walk in the busy hallway.

“What if what we did that night…” Stiles stops for a second to think, “What if it’s still affecting us?”

“Post-traumatic stress?” Scott asks.

“Or something”, Stiles nods.

They enter their first class and find seats.

“You know what’s scary?” Stiles asks from Scott who looks at him, “I’m not sure if this is even real.”   


Stiles wakes up screaming in terror. His bedroom door flies open and his father rushes in. John moves to hold his son so he would stop thrashing around and calm down.

“Shh, hey hey hey”, John speaks softly as Stiles screams tearfully, “It’s okey, you are okey.”   


John hugs his son tightly while Stiles grips his hand almost painfully hard.

“Maybe we need a little more time to get back to normal”, Scott says as he follows Stiles to his locker.

“Yeah, try not to forget we hit the reset button on a supernatural beacon for supernatural creatures”, Stiles says as he stares at his locker’s lock, trying to open it, “I think there is a pretty good chance things are never going back to normal.”

“Yeah”, Scott sighs.

The numbers on his lock are now changed to some kind of weird symbols. He stares at them in shock for a second, shakes the lock tilting his head to make sure he sees right.

“What?” He asks from himself when the symbols still don’t make any sense.

Few seconds later the numbers are back and Stiles gives up as he turns to Scott.

“Dude your eyes!” Stiles hisses as he grabs Scott’s head.

“What about them?”

“They are starting to glow”, Stiles explains.

Scott immediately lowers his eyes as they make their way to an empty classroom. Scott rushes in as soon as Stiles opens the door, pushing Stiles away from him.

“No, get back. Stay away from me”, Scott growls as he moves further away.

“Scott, it’s fine”, Stiles tries.

Scott breathes heavily as he sinks his claws in his palm. Blood starts to drip down his hands and he falls on his knees. A good thing is this seems to help.

“Pain makes you human”, Scott explains between heavy pants as Stiles kneels before him.

“Scott, this isn’t just in our heads. This is real”, Stiles says, “And it’s starting to get bad for me too. I’m not just having nightmares. I’m having these dreams where I have to literally scream myself awake. And sometimes I’m not even sure if I’m ever actually waking up.”   


“What do you mean?” Scott asks worried.

“Do you know how you can tell if you are dreaming?” Stiles asks, eyeing the floor, “You can’t read in dreams. More and more the last few days I have been having trouble reading. It’s like I can’t see the words. I can’t… put the letter in order.”

“Like even now?”

Stiles raises slowly from the floor staring at the chalkboard before him. There are words and letters but nothing makes sense. All the letters are in wrong order, screwed up. Every poster on the wall is the same.

“I can’t read a thing”, Stiles confesses.

Later that day Stiles is knocking on Peter’s downtown apartment door.

“I shouldn’t be surprised that you know where I live”, Peter says as he opens the door for Stiles.

“Can I come in?” Stiles asks fidgeting as he stands there.

Peter steps aside and Stiles hurries in. He doesn’t stop to admire the apartment as he starts to ramble.

“I have difficulties to separate what’s real and what’s not”, Stiles says in a rushed breath, “I don’t know when I’m awake, I’m afraid that everything that is happening is a dream and soon I will wake up screaming from a nightmare. I was today in econ and everyone started to sign but I don’t know sign language. It was weird, no one talked a word. Only sign language.”

“Can you sign what they were signing?” Peter asks, taking place right next to Stiles.

Stiles nods shakily and starts showing what he saw.

“When… a door.. is not… a door?” Peter says as he watches Stiles.

“When a door is not a door?” Stiles repeats, heart beating, “My subconscious is telling me riddles?”

“When a door is not a door is when it’s ajar”, Peter says thinking, “Maybe your mind is trying to tell you when you entered the higher level of consciousness it left a door to your mind open.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Stiles asks.

“I wish I could answer that Stiles, I really do”, Peter says as he guides the boy to sit on the couch, “But I think you need to speak with Deaton about this.”

“I don’t want to”, Stiles argues but continues when he sees Peter’s look, “Not right now. I will. Tomorrow maybe?”

“You need to talk about it as soon as possible. I reckon it’s not good to have a door to your mind open like that”, Peter shakes his head.

Next time Stiles wakes up when Melissa pulls him out of the coyote den. 

Stiles remembers the creature covered in gauze. He remembers it asking what he wants most in life. He didn’t answer the question.

It still knew it and promised to be there always for him if he lets it in. If only Stiles lets go of control. They would be together forever. No one could hurt Stiles anymore. No more being alone or becoming abandoned. It would always be with Stiles.

It all sounds so appealing.

He stays at the hospital the next day when Scott goes to school. They run all sorts of tests on him. Stiles knows what they are looking for, of course he does. They try to find out if it's the fronto-temporal dementia his mother had.

Going to the MRI is the last thing Stiles remembers.

“Stiles?” Peter asks as he walks in Stiles’ hospital room.

The nogitsune wearing Stiles’ face lifts its eyes and stares at Peter.

“Your father is looking for you. You scared us all by disappearing from the MRI room”, Peter says stepping closer.

“What gets bigger the more you take it away?” Stiles asks calmly as he keeps staring at Peter.

“What?” Peter asks, confused.

“What gets bigger the more you take it away?” Stiles repeats very patiently.

“A hole”, Peter answers and watches as Stiles smiles widely.

“What gets wetter the more it dries?”

“A towel.”   


“When is a door not a door?”

“When it’s ajar.”   


“We like you”, Stiles says, smiling wide as he gets up from the bed.

“We?” Peter asks just when Stiles knocks him out cold.

The nogitsune gets captured after almost destroying the hospital and manages to blow up the police station. 

“Remove the tape”, Peter says quietly to Scott as the whole pack stands around tied Stiles.

Scott does as told and takes the tape off from Stiles mouth. Stiles tilts his head to the side as he eyes them before a smirk takes place on his face. He stares at everyone, dark circles around his eyes, making him seem vicious. Not anything like Stiles.

“Oh Scott”, Stiles says, sounding so much like himself, “Always worried about others.”

“You need to leave Stiles’ body”, Scott commands the spirit.

“Or what alpha of not mine?” The nogitsune asks, “You are not known for doing anything to protect what is yours. Or are we in your pack? Stiles has wondered that many times, you know. And I have tried to tell him that, no, no we are not pack. The mutt off an alpha thinks we are too weak to be part of his pathetic pack!”

Scott seems taken aback and falls quiet.

“Oh Scott. You know we like you even if we think you are a total moron from time to time”, The nogitsune says turning his stare from Scott to Allison, “For example the huntress. You know that she is lying when she says that her grandfather made her do all those horrible, terrible things she did.”

Allison gasps surprised.

“You enjoyed torturing us”, The nogitsune laughs watching Allison’s white face and wide eyes, “You enjoyed the feeling of the knife slicing our skin, it made you feel powerful to sink that knife in Boyd. Did it make you feel good? We bet it did. We surely enjoyed it when our dear Peter killed Gerard. Peter is such a romantic.”

“Shut up”, Allison hisses as everyone is staring at her with wide eyes.

“You are not denying it”, Stiles laughs head thrown back.

“Is that true?” Scott asks unbelieving the spirit as he stares at Allison.

“It’s the nogitsune talking”, Allison cries out trying to defend herself.

“Do you know what I just heard?” Peter asks stepping closer to the girl, “Your heart beat a little faster. Every werewolf was able to hear it. You are lying.”

“That's why Stiles likes you the best”, The nogitsune says, eyeing Peter with its dark eyes, “You are his favourite. I was first skeptical about how this one werewolf could be so different from the rest that he takes our interest. But now I see.”

“What do you mean he is my son’s favourite?” John asks outraged.

“Ah yes. The father”, The nogitsune smirks, “Father of the year. Did you know that Stiles would do much better without you? Our brilliant little Stiles has not been home much during these last few weeks. Have you noticed?”

“My son has been missing most of the time”, The sheriff defends himself.

“No no no. Don’t be boring now”, Stiles begs, voice changing from the manic voice of the nogitsune to Stiles’ own voice, “I have been with Peter.”

John attacks Peter pushing the other man against the wall with a gun pointed at his head.

“What have you been doing to my son?” John hisses.

“I have done nothing”, Peter growls back, not fighting back.

“Sheriff, let him go”, Derek tries to step in, “Peter isn’t lying. It’s the nogitsune trying to get us against each other.”

“When did you become so boring?” Stiles asks from Derek, “You never cared about us. You left us in the basement with Gerard. We liked you. You were our friend.”

“That’s not true. I was dealing with him”, Derek argues weakly.

Everyone starts arguing with each other. John argues with Peter and Melissa. Derek is trying to keep Chris away from Peter with little success. Scott, Allison and Isaac are having a heated argument about Gerard. Isaac is standing between furious Scott and Allison.

“Everyone has it but no one can lose it”, Stiles’ voice echoes in everyone's head.

Silence falls over the room.

“What?” Lydia asks.

“You are supposed to be the smart one, aren’t you?” The nogitsune asks with a smirk, “Or the smartest of the punch but Stiles is now pretty preoccupied.” 

“A shadow”, Peter answers without thinking and the nogitsune smirks at him.

Scott and Lydia enter Stiles’ mind, trying to find him and draw the real Stiles out of his own subconscious. It takes its own time before all three gasp for air waking up. The kanima venom that Deaton had used to keep Stiles still seems to have worn off as the boy jumps on the floor on his knees. Stiles throws up gauze, roll after roll. He pulls it out of his mouth, a huge pile on the ground, leaving the exhausted boy leaning against the couch on the floor.

The pile of gauze moves, and a hand shoots out of it. Everyone jumps back in shock, watching in horror as a body covered in gauze raises from it. The body pulls itself slowly out of whatever dimension it’s coming from. Scott and Peter attack the figure, being the closest to it, only to pause when the creature starts ripping off his bandages revealing Stiles underneath it. The real Stiles, Peter wolf tells him after getting a sniff of his scent.

Heads turn towards where the other Stiles was just seconds ago to find him gone. Lydia is also missing and the front door is wide open. No one heard a thing.

\---------------

+1

It’s been three months since the pack defeated the nogitsune. Three months since Allison died. Three months since the pack has talked to Stiles. They all avoid him at school, all remember what the nogitsune did while wearing Stiles’ body. No one is able to look past that Stiles is also a victim. All they see is Stiles and remember all the horrible things that the nogitsune did.

He is scared of the dark. He can’t stay out without feeling terror freezing his body as his mind, unhelpfully, shows him all the things that could lurk there. He remembers the dark places the nogitsune took him, he remembers feeling helpless.

He never wants to feel like that again.

So everyday after school like clock work he drives straight back home and turns all the lights on. Every door needs to be closed or Stiles will have a panic attack. John finds this difficult to work with. He has a son with PTSD and he doesn’t know what to do other than try to help Stiles through his nightmares when he wakes up screaming.

Stiles can somewhat tolerate life during the day but nights are pure hell.

Stiles suffers from nightmares. About the things he did while the evil fox spirit was in his head. All those people he murdered, all the memories the nogitsune gave him. All its past lives, the horror and pain. All those thousand years the spirit has lived, all memories it had are now Stiles’ memories.

He wakes up screaming every night. His father tries to help him during the first month. Slowly even he stepped back from Stiles life to let him deal with the fall out on his own.

Stiles cries at night. He knows it’s messed up to miss the nogitsune. But the spirit had promised to never leave him, had promised he would never be alone again. And Stiles had believed. He could handle all the horror as long as he knew he wouldn’t be alone. Now he is.

But he isn’t alone.

Not really.

After his father slowly gave up on him Stiles started to seek company from Peter. Or rather Peter seemed to always be his shadow. Wherever Stiles went he could feel Peter close. During the day at school he could feel Peter somewhere close but he could never see him. At night when he woke up screaming alone he knew Peter was just outside his window.

Three months of this and finally Stiles breaks. He wakes up screaming once again, tears streaming down his sweat covered face. Hair sticking to his scalp as he clutches the bed sheets with white knuckles.

“Peter”, Stiles whispers brokenly, choking on his own saliva as he tries to breathe.

The window opens quietly, letting fresh night air in the bedroom. Peter pulls himself inside before standing before the window staring at Stiles. The older man looks worried, an odd look on his face as Stiles has only ever seen his smug face. Now the man standing in his bedroom doesn’t bear the confidence Peter usually has around him.

“Peter”, Stiles whispers again, feeling calmer as he can see the wolf there.

Peter stays silent taking a hesitant step closer to the bed. Eyes on Stiles all the time. Peter’s eyes flare electric blue as he takes a deep breath and smells Stiles’ distress. Stiles thinks he will have to ask Peter if it is a compulsive reaction or what.

Stiles moves over, making room for Peter in his bed in a silent invitation. Peter kicks his shoes off before laying down next to the boy. Stiles lays down, still under the covers as Peter lays on top of them. Without Stiles having to voice his need Peter pulls him to his chest. The warm surface under his head and the steady heartbeat more than enough to calm Stiles down. He places one hand right on top of Peter’s heart, forcing his own beating heart to match it.

Peter starts to run his hand through Stiles' now longer hair. Stiles knows he needs to trim it. It’s starting to fall over his eyes. And he should sleep more. And eat more. He should be doing a lot of things but he doesn’t have the energy for any of them. He constantly feels afraid of even a slightest of shadows or noises.

But now. Pressed against the wall of his bedroom and Peter on his other side… If Stiles dares to say he feels safe.

Stiles wakes up the next morning feeling more rested than he remembers in a long while. Peter is protectively wrapped himself over Stiles’ slightly smaller body and Stiles loves it. Peter wakes up as soon as Stiles moves a little, Stiles can feel the man tense up.

Just as quickly as he tensed up Peter relaxed and pulls Stiles closer. He buries his nose in Stiles hair breathing deeply as he rubs his cheek against Stiles’ head. Stiles knows what scent marking is, thank you very much and he knows that Peter is marking him as his. Peter’s. No one else can touch him.

And the thought of it doesn’t frighten Stiles. 

“Hm”, Stiles hums as he lets Peter bury his head in his neck.

There is nothing sexual about the act. Only the need to be close to someone. Someone important. Stiles understands Peter’s need for being close. The older man has been on the outer side of the pack ever since he came back from the grave. No one trusts Peter enough to let him close. There must be only weak pack bonds to others if any. Stiles doesn’t know if he wants to know the answer to how close Peter is to become an omega.

Stiles runs his hand through Peter’s hair, feeling soft locks under his fingers. He is sure the man is purring in his neck and it makes Stiles laugh. Peter pulls Stiles even closer if that’s possible.

Both of them know that Stiles hasn’t laughed in so long.

“Your father is home”, Peter whispers suddenly, breaking the peaceful silence of the morning.

“You don’t have to leave”, Stiles answers just as quietly, fearing to be left alone.

“I don’t know how the sheriff would react to find a grown ass man in his teenage son’s bed”, Peter tries to laugh but fails as he slowly raises from the bed.

“Dad can’t say anything about it”, Stiles argues lazily, still feeling high from being scent marked as he lays on the bed.

“I better get going”, Peter says, rubbing Stiles’ ankle and even Stiles can now hear his father.

“Don’t leave me”, Stiles pleads, feeling the panic grow inside of him.

“I’m not far, sweetheart”, Peter promises as he goes out of the window.

Stiles has thought about it hard and ever since the older man came into his life, he has been there for Stiles. Always there making sure he is alright, helping him with research without ulterior motive. And now offering to sleep with him to calm him down. 

They started a new routine where Peter would come to his room before the night falls and cuddle with Stiles as the boy falls asleep. They continue this for a few weeks before the sheriff gets a hint of Peter’s nightly visits at his teenage son’s bedroom.

One night, just a little past two in the morning John opens Stiles’ door, shining a flashlight on the bed. 

He is met with bright electric blue eyes staring right back at him. Taking a sharp breath in John is ready to yell at Peter freaking Hale out of his house when Stiles makes a wounded noise.

John’s gaze falls on his son, who has wrapped himself around Peter. Stiles buries his face in Peter’s chest as the man lies on top of the covers and Stiles is wrapped warmly underneath it. Peter places his hand on Stiles neck, the warm, familiar weight calming Stiles’ dreams.

John stares at them for a minute as Peter stares right back at him, eyes now normal. Without a word John closes the door never saying anything.

Stiles can’t remember when Peter’s apartment has become their apartment but it must have been sometime after his eighteenth birthday. Stiles’ stuff just starts to appear in the apartment. His action figures decorate Peter’s bookshelf and the older man complains about them ruining the look but he never touches them. His clothes move in Peter’s closet where the man has cleaned a space for Stiles.

Stiles sits up, shaking from the nightmare. There is a warm hand on his neck, a thumb slowly rubbing circles to calm him down. The bed sheets clinging to his damp body. He needs to get out.

They don’t talk as Peter follows Stiles on the cold floor where the boy is breathing heavily. Peter sits there with him in silence, letting Stiles take his own time to come around, only making sure Stiles doesn’t go into a panic attack.

“How do you do it?” Stiles asks shakily as he manages to speak again.

“Do what darling?” Peter asks letting Stiles rest his head on his thigh.

“Tolerate me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Peter asks as he pulls the boy in his lap, rubbing their cheeks together.

Stiles lets the man take care of him in silence. He needs the possessive way Peter shows who he belongs to, just as much as Peter needs it. The feeling of being wanted. The feeling of not being a complete burden to everyone he meets. He never feels like that when he is with Peter. Peter offers his love to him with open arms.

Peter helps Stiles back on the bed carefully, laying him down and covering him before going under them himself. It’s familiar now how Peter pulls Stiles close to his body, sharing his body heat to get Stiles warm again.

“Hey Stiles!” Scott yells getting Stiles’ attention during lunch.

Stiles looks up and watches as Scott makes his way towards his table where he is sitting alone.

“Didn’t you get my message?” Scott asks as he takes the seat.

“What message?” Stiles asks unsure.

“About the pack meeting. I sent it to you like two days ago”, Scott says, making a puppy face.

Stiles has not gotten any messages. Now that he thinks about it he can’t remember the last time he has checked his phone. It still sits on the nightstand in Peter’s apartment.

“Yeah, sorry. I guess I have missed it”, Stiles says waving his hands around, “With everything and all that.”   


“Why do you smell like Peter?” Scott asks eyes flashing red suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“You smell like Peter. His scent is all over you”, Scott makes a face to show his disgust.

“Yeah well. Peter has been helping me to sleep”, Stiles answers with a shy shrug, feeling panic starting to rise as Scott acts like that.

“He is evil. You can’t trust him!” Scott cries out angrily.

“The last time I checked I am the only one helping Stiles”, Comes from behind Stiles and a familiar hand latches on his neck, keeping him grounded, “And I think I can speak for Stiles when I say that he trusts me.”

Stiles leans in to the touch as a reflex he has gotten so used to. The feeling of safety that surrounds him immediately as Peter stands behind him should be illegal. He shouldn’t need to depend so heavily on another person but with Peter he doesn’t care.

“You need to let Stiles go”, Scott growls, no one in the cafeteria can hear it other than werewolves.

Scott tries to grab Stiles’ arm to pull him away from Peter but Stiles lets out a distressed whine. Lucky for everyone they are in the most far away corner in the cafeteria, giving them some privacy. Stiles turns around on his seat and buries his face in Peter’s chest, clinging hard on the man. Both wolves can smell the scent of distress.

“I need you to step back Scott”, Peter growls threateningly, eyes glowing blue as he stares at the alpha.

“No way! Stiles. You need to come with me”, Scott tries again to move closer to the boy but Peter stops him from doing so.

Peter moves faster than Scott can react as he moves between the two boys. Peter has Scott pinned on the table by his arm twisted behind his back. He can hear Scott’s pack of puppies rushing to them but ignores them entirely.

“I lost the last time I tried to take your alpha spark and I can promise you that I won’t fail the second time”, Peter whispers in Scott’s ear, “You need to stay away from Stiles or it won’t end well for you.”

With that Peter twisted Scott’s arm and a loud crack can be heard. Scott cries in pain as Peter lets him go, pushing the boy away from Stiles. Cradling his broken arm Scott looks at Stiles with a kicked puppy look.

When Stiles doesn’t say anything Scott turns around and walks away with his pack. Lydia is giving cold glares at Stiles and especially at Peter. Peter doesn’t seem to care as he pulls Stiles in his arms trying to calm his starting panic attack down.

It’s no longer Stiles’ pack, if he ever was part of it at all. He has read that even humans should be able to feel the pack bonds with their pack. But he only feels one and it connects him to Peter. Stiles has never asked if what he feels is a pack bond or is he just imagining it. He isn’t strong enough to know that Scott has not considered him a pack.

After the confrontation Scott stays away. Until one night when Stiles gets a call from his dad telling him to come home, it’s urgent. So Stiles and Peter head over to the sheriff’s house.

“It looks like an intervention”, Peter says as he parks on the driveway in front of the sheriff house.

The driveway and the side of the road is full of the pack’s cars. There’s Scott’s motorcycle, Lydia’s car, Derek’s Camaro, and Kira's mom's car. Everyone must be here. It makes Stiles nervous and he leans on Peter to lead him. 

And Peter does.

He always does. 

“What is he doing here?” Is Scott’s first question as Peter opens the front door to let Stiles in.

“Because I invited him. I invited them both”, John answers, finality in his voice that shuts Scott.

There’s no fighting with the sheriff.

“Now that we are here, could you please tell what was so important that you had to summon us to be here on Saturday night”, Peter says, sounding bored but Stiles can feel how tense the man is as he is leaning against him, “We had plans.”

“Peter”, Derek starts with a sigh as he looks at the two of them but never continues.

Whether he knows he can’t win or he just doesn’t have the energy to fight with them, Stiles does not know. He doesn’t care. He wanted to spend the night with Peter. Alone. Just the two of them, in Peter’s bed watching movies and cuddling.

It helps Stiles to fall asleep to have Peter right there. To have the older man right next to him all the time. Some would say they are codependent and Stiles can see their worry. He really can. But he does not think he is strong enough to be alone. He needs Peter. And Peter needs him. Neither one of them hasn’t talked about how they spent their every waking hour together when Stiles isn’t at school. And the nights they sleep in the same bed.

“We are here to get you out of Stiles’ life”, Scott says, truly believing what he is saying.

“Stiles you need to understand that this is not healthy. What you are doing is sick and you need to get rid of Peter before he hurts you”, Lydia says, glaring daggers at Peter, “You can’t bind yourself on another person like this.”

“Like you did with Jackson?” Stiles asks fuming at Lydia.

If Lydia thinks that she has any say in his life, she is so wrong. Stiles has spent years running after Lydia, only to get a cold shoulder every time he tried to approach her. He has watched how she runs after Jackson like a lost puppy. Pitiful, lost puppy who would not see what was happening. Stiles knows what is going on between him and Peter. It’s not the same as between Lydia and Jackson.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lydia asks snapping his gaze to Stiles from Peter.

“I think we both know what he means”, Peter sneers as he holds Stiles.

“Stiles don’t you see how badly he is treating everyone. Don’t you see he is just using you as a shield to get to me!” Scott cries out trying to convince Stiles with his weak arguments, “You need to come with me.”

“Is that an order from the alpha, or just a temper tantrum?” Peter asks, pulling Stiles behind him, shielding the boy with his own body.

Scott snaps his gaze to Peter, glaring at the man with red eyes. To see how much Scott struggles with his control amuses Stiles. And through their bond Stiles can feel that Peter feels the same. 

Maybe the darkness that the nogitsune left behind is not all from the nogitsune. Stiles has played with the thought many times before. Maybe he is not this good hearted young man who wants only to do good. He has always had these urges to do something dark. To see the people close to him suffer. Stiles doesn’t grieve Allison. He doesn’t have it in him to feel sorry for her. She had it coming for her. Stiles is sure the nogitsune killed her as a favor to Stiles.

He has told about these thoughts to Peter, knowing the man would not judge him. The man listens to him and offers his knowledge to him. Peter has told Stiles there is nothing wrong with him to have these urges, nothing to be ashamed of. And it helps Stiles to move on.

“It’s an order”, Scott says.

“What are you going to do if I don’t leave?” Peter asks standing up to his alpha.

“Then you are out of the pack!” Scott growls.

“No!” Stiles yells, rushing to stand between Peter and Scott, one hand on Peter’s chest, “You can’t kick him out. He will go omega!”

“I know that. Stiles you don’t need to stand up for him. He can’t hurt you anymore”, Scott speaks, so full of himself and his worldview.

“I’m not standing up for him. He will become a target for hunters.”

“He knows it”, Peter speaks evenly as he stares at Scott over Stiles’ shoulder.

“Will you kick me out too?” Stiles asks from Scott eyes hard.

“Of course not. You are pack.”

“I can’t feel a pack bond to you”, Stiles says, “But I can feel one with Peter.”

“Humans can’t feel them Stiles”, Scott sighs like he is talking to a child, “I don’t know what lies Peter has told you but humans can’t feel pack bonds. Only werewolves. If you wanted to become one why didn’t you ask.”

“What?” Peter and Derek say at the same time as they listen to Scott's bullshit excuse.

“What do you mean?” Stiles asks, taking a step away from Scott, back to behind Peter.

“You shouldn’t have to pull stunts like this when you could just ask for the bite”, Scott laughs as he looks at Stiles, “I’m the alpha. I can give it to you right now. You will then be pack.”

“I don’t want the bite”, Stiles cries out panicked as Scott tries to move closer to him.

“Yes you do. Why else would you be with Peter?” Scott asks, “He isn’t even an alpha so I don’t know what you get out of this but I will end it tonight.”   


“Hey hey. What are you talking about?” John asks from the side, starting to get worried for his son as he listens to Scott ramble on.

Scott jumps at Stiles all alpha, trying to get to him. Peter moves between them and even Derek is moving to stop Scott. John is shouting as everything goes down in a blink of an eye.

Scott is on the ground. Peter and Derek hold him down there as Stiles tries to breathe as he watches all this. His best friend, his brother, just tried to attack him to bite him. To change him against his own will. Scott rages on the ground, yelling something about helping Stiles out of Peter’s grib and how Stiles really wants the bite.

“Enough!” John bellows over the raging teen on the floor, “I want you out of my house Scott. You just tried attacking my son and I will not stand aside. He told you no and you should damn well respect that. And it goes to all of you. Claiming to be Stiles’ friends and pulling shit like this. Don’t you see that Peter is helping Stiles to overcome the nogitsune? Where have you all been when he needed his friends? I sure as hell have not seen anyone of you in five months.”

Stiles is in Peter’s arms, shaking as he tries to concentrate on Peter’s heartbeat. The older man is murmuring sweet things in his ear, running a hand over his back. It’s grounding and most importantly it’s helping.

“You can’t-”, Scott starts as Derek lets him get up.

“I can and I will!” John raises his voice, “If you don’t leave right now I will arrest you for trespassing.”

“We are over Stiles! You are out of the pack. You better not come begging for forgiveness when Peter gets tired of you. You let him use you as his boytoy”, Scott snarls as he heads towards the door.

Peter starts to growl threateningly as Scott talks. Stiles has to hold on to the man to stop him from attacking Scott. Stiles has no idea why he does this. Scott is not his alpha anymore. Nor his friend. Stiles watches helplessly as all his former friends walk out of the door after Scott.

Only Derek remains with them.

As it happens during the next two months Stiles takes his finals early and graduates. He and Peter have bought, or Peter bought them an apartment close to Stiles university. It’s a big, open planned apartment with lots of natural light.

There has not been any word from Scott or his pack. None of them have talked to Stiles, or Peter, or even Derek. All three are out of the pack. Stiles doesn’t mind, not really when he has Peter. And Derek as it happens to be nowadays. 

Derek is like their adopted son that Stiles and Peter take care of. It amuses Peter to no end when Stiles calls Derek his stepson. And it makes Peter laugh when Derek frowns in disgust at the words. Derek moves with them to New York. He goes to finish his degree he started before Laura died. 

Their lives are good. Really good. Stiles doesn’t suffer from nightmares nearly as often as he used to when they finally get to move out of the Beacon Hills. Stiles has nightmares maybe two times a month. He is thrilled.

The relationship between Stiles and Peter slowly moves from platonic to romantic. Peter only does his move when he deems Stiles mentally healthy enough to say no. Stiles doesn’t say no.

It’s nine in the morning and they are making breakfast in their kitchen. Peter is frying eggs when Stiles walks in with his coffee cup. A lazy smile on Stiles lips as he goes to hug Peter from behind, a light kiss on his neck.

“Good morning wolfie”, Stiles whispers as he looks at Peter’s eyes flash red.


End file.
